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Mother’s Day Smil Beunca Smith, 43 3 daug h t e r s age s 27, 22, & 21   ‘No mother should have to bury their child’, you’ve heard it, and you’ve probably said it at some point. Unfortunat e ly, for Beunca Smith she has lived this nightmare when a routine procedure turned into a sequence of horrifying events for her 27 year old daughter Keshia. On September 6th 2016, while in recovery from the procedure Keshia aspirated and emergency personnel rushed to get fluid out of her lungs and needed to be put on oxygen support because she couldn’t breathe. That is when it all got worse. Keshia was given too much oxygen and her lung popped. She was transferred to Tampa General Hospital and for weeks they kept her in an induced comma so she could rest while her lung was healing. When they would try to wake her up she would be restless, worried, and confused about what happened to her and how her 2 year old son was doing, so they kept her sedated. But then she started bleeding internally and was placed on a different life support. Unfortunately on October 31st, 2016 the decision was made to take her off life support as doctors said she wasn’t healing and there was nothing else they could do for Keshia, they told her mother Beunca that she would have to say goodbye to her first born child, her oldest of 3 daughters. Beunca used all her savings to bury her and can no longer afford to fix her teeth. Now she is raising her grandson and since she only raised 3 girls she knows a boy will be a whole different ball game but she cherishes this piece of Keshia that she still has. She is ashamed of her smile and says she hardly ever smiles anymore and doesn’t want to let anyone see her teeth. With chipped and missing teeth, she has to eat her food on only one side of her mouth, making eating tedious and cumbersome. This smile makeover would be life changing for her because it will give her something to smile about again. Terri Baker, 54 One daughter 32 years old As a single parent all but the first 2 years of her only daughter’s young life, Terri strived hard to make sure her only child was fed both physically and spiritually, often working two jobs at a time and practically raising her in church. Though it was in the cards for her to only have one child,Terri takes great pride being blessed with four beautiful grandchildren who call her GeeGee and having her world revolve around them. At a young age Terri was a model in California doing mostly lipstick ads when she once had beautiful teeth and a contagious smile. But that was taken away from her when in January of 2000 she had a near death car accident in which she was thrown through the windshield and pinned by her truck which primarily rested upon her face. She was found by a raccoon 24 WomanToWomanMagazine.com


20041FR
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